There are over 500 videos uploaded to YouTube every minute, and viewers consume at least 10 billion hours of YouTube videos per week—that’s more than a billion hours of content every day. In that mountain of ever-changing content, it can be hard to stand out. That's why it's important to know how each of your videos perform, so you can repeat your successes and minimize your flubs.

YouTube Studio makes it easy to access your analytics data. There, you can see how many people watched each of your videos and check out other details about your YouTube viewers, like who subscribes to your channel, their age ranges, and where they're from.

You have to be savvy to curry favor with YouTube’s algorithm. Understanding YouTube SEO trends, uploading regularly, and even adding the right thumbnail can help you reach and engage your audience. Whatever your channel’s niche, analyzing your user base is a helpful way to see who likes your content and how you can reach more viewers.

What kind of data does YouTube give you?

YouTube Analytics captures valuable data about your channel and those who watch your videos. These are just a few of the metrics it can collect:

• Catch your subscribers' real-time activity and view counts.
• Tell you which videos landed you new subscribers.
• Let you know which operating systems and devices your viewers use to watch your videos.

While you can’t see which specific users viewed each of your videos (sorry, no way to confirm that your buddy “definitely checked out” your latest upload), you do have access to analytical information that helps break down your user base, which you can view across any time range from the last seven days to the channel’s entire lifetime.

Here are the main tabs you’ll see in YouTube’s built-in analytics. 

Overview

The Overview tab gives you a full picture of your channel's performance, presenting metrics and insights crucial for understanding audience engagement and content reach. It provides a lens through which you can observe and interpret your content's performance:

In Overview, you can also see the key performance indicators (KPIs) of your videos, such as number of views, watch time, and subscriber change, which lets you quickly gauge the success of your content. 

If you click "see more," you can find more information about your channel, like the performance of individual videos. If one of your videos or playlists performs exceptionally well—or does terribly—you’ll get an instant snapshot of those dynamics to adjust your content strategy accordingly.

You can also find more information about your target audience, such as age, gender, and location. Your viewers’ age and gender can provide important info about who your content is resonating with and why. Say you notice your content skews younger than expected. In that case, you might want to reconsider how you market your channel, whether to capture a wider audience or further engage the people already watching. ‍

Content

The Content tab fills you in on how your audience finds and engages with your content. It also gives you a deeper understanding of what content your audience watches. You can find different reach and engagement reports for your videos, shorts, live streams, and posts here. It combines data for all types of content on your channel, so you can see how they perform against each other. 

Some data you’ll find includes:

• Views: the total number of video views on all your content. 
• Impressions: how many times a thumbnail was shown to YouTube viewers.
• Impressions click-through rate: how often thumbnails led to a view. 
• Published content: the number of videos, Shorts, live streams, and posts you’ve published. 
• How viewers found your content: shows how viewers found content within Browse, Shorts feed, suggested videos, channel pages, and others. 

Each content tab will have its own analytics, and they differ slightly. Explore and use this wealth of information to create video content your audience will love.

Audience

The Audience tab details information like the number of viewers who’ve watched your channel and returned to watch more in the selected time period (aka, returning viewers). It also tracks people who’ve watched your channel for the first time (new viewers), unique viewers, and the almighty grail of YouTube metrics, your subscriber count. 

Diving deeper, you’ll find more information like:

• When your viewers are on YouTube most
• What percentage of subscribers get bell notifications from your channel
• What percentage of Watch time comes from people who aren’t subscribed
• What other channels viewers watched outside of your channel over the past 28 days

This data gives you a clearer glimpse of how viewers behave on your channel, which videos they’re most into, and which content most impacts their actions — all of which can help you plan your strategy.

Research

Have you ever been curious about what search terms your audience uses most on YouTube? Or do you want to see what viewers across all of YouTube are looking for to get new video ideas? 

The Research tab gives you search insights so you can create YouTube videos that people are interested in. You’ll find three tabs:

• Searches across YouTube. Here, you explore the top searches on YouTube by topic. For example, if you type in “how to create”, you’ll see results for “how to create apple id”, “how to create a whatsapp channel”, and more. These search queries can inspire future video ideas. 
• Your viewers’ searches. Here, you’ll find the top keywords people search for related to your YouTube channel, with associated search volume. 
• Saved. Any keywords you save from the other two tabs will show up here. 

Using the Research tab, you can tailor content to match the interests and needs of your viewers, and increase your channel's visibility and engagement. 

Revenue

The Revenue tab doesn’t show up in your YouTube analytics right away. You’ll have to join the YouTube Partner Program first to access it. The program has its own set of requirements to join, and is definitely worth signing up for because you can monetize your channel more easily.  

Overall, this tab shows you how much your channel has earned, broken down by month. It also shows the estimated revenue from each source, such as Watch Page Ads, Shorts Feed Ads, Memberships, Connected Stores, and other sources. Plus, you’ll learn which content (videos, Shorts, live streams) earned the highest estimated revenue. 

Read: 49 YouTube stats 2023: Engagement, views, revenue

How to check your YouTube views and access YouTube Analytics

There is a ton to learn about YouTube analytics beyond clicks and impressions—too much for this one article. But if you just want to check your YouTube views, here’s how. 

1. Log into your YouTube Account

Go to YouTube.com and make sure you’re signed in to your account. If not, enter your credentials to log in.

2. Navigate to YouTube Studio

Once logged in, click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen, and select “YouTube Studio” from the dropdown menu.

3. Access YouTube Analytics

In the YouTube Studio, you’ll see a menu on the left side of the screen. Click on “Analytics.” This is where you can see all the detailed metrics related to your channel and videos.

4. Customize and explore

Here, you can see various performance metrics such as views, watch time, and subscribers, each with its respective tab. You can also adjust the time range for the data to see how videos have performed over different periods.

More metrics, such as traffic source and location, are available under the See More link. Take time to understand each metric and how it relates to your content's performance. Don’t forget to explore more advanced metrics like device type, translation use, subtitles, and CC to get deeper insights into your channel's performance and growth opportunities.

✨Get inspired: 21 inspiring YouTube Intros to learn from (2023)

Descript: the ultimate tool for YouTube videos

YouTube view counts can provide a general indication of how popular your content is, but it’s the Analytics tool that provides the most valuable insights into the people consuming your content. Knowing who your viewers are, what they like, how they get to your channel, and how they engage with your content paints a more complete picture of your audience.

But how can you create amazing YouTube content? Thousands of YouTubers already create and edit their videos with Descript. Join them today and take advantage of:

• Transcription tools to edit your YouTube videos the same way you'd edit a document
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• Filler word removal to get rid of unwanted pauses and awkward “umms” 
• Tools to export video files in YouTube’s preferred format

Ready to revolutionize your YouTube videos? Take a tour of Descript’s free YouTube video editor today.

FAQs

Are there any analytics or insights that show viewer demographics?

Yes, YouTube provides content creators with analytics, such as demographic information like age, gender, and location, so they can better understand their social media audience and tailor content accordingly. YouTube creators, however, cannot see individual user data because it's aggregated and anonymized.

Can a YouTuber see who subscribed?

YouTubers can see their subscribers' subscriptions unless they choose to keep them private. However, the subscriber's interaction with the content, like watch time and viewed videos, is private.